Male Bonding
by Lawral
Summary: Tony comes to comfort Tim. Written for NFA Near Brothers Challenge


Title: Male Bonding

Author: Lawral

Pairings: Tony/Tim

Rating: FR13

Summary: Tony has come to comfort Tim.

Note: Missing scene from Probie. Written for the NFA Near Brothers Challenge.

Tim couldn't believe what he was seeing. Tony, the man who took great joy in teasing him every minute of every day, was sitting next to him telling him one of his deepest secrets. He'd wet his pants the first time he shot at someone? Had Tim not been feeling so unsure of himself, he might have made a comment. Instead he found himself smiling softly and nodding his head. He realized that Tony was making an attempt to cheer him up and found the best way was to tell him a secret that was close to the situation he was now in.

"Oo, you got anything to eat?" Tony said, raising to his feet and making his way into the kitchen area.

He started to rummage through the refrigerator, pushing bottles to the side and craning his neck in search of something that looked good enough to eat. He pushed aside a jar of mayonnaise and a bottle of ketchup. He shut the door to the refrigerator and opened one of the cabinets. He pushed aside seasonings and coffee grinds. He closed the cabinet door and returned to his friend.

"You have to be kidding, McGoo." He said, slapping him slightly on the back of the head.

"Hey." McGee said. He wasn't even in the mood to return a strike to Tony's abdomen.

Tony made his way towards McGee's front door again. "You only have milk, cheese, coffee and condiments. I had a feeling we would need this."

McGee looked up to see Tony kicking his door closed with a pizza box and a six pack of beer. He sighed, moistened his lip and turned back to the computer screen in front of him. McGee could only think of how Tony had obviously missed the bottle of white wine in the door of the refrigerator.

"Tony, not tonight, all right." McGee protested again. "I said I didn't feel like drinking tonight."

"Ah ha!" Tony said, putting the pizza and beer down on the desk. "You said you didn't want to go clubbing. You didn't say anything about drinking."

Tony pulled out a beer and held it out to McGee. He then grabbed a slice of his pizza and started eating it. McGee looked down to his floor as a slice of pepperoni fell from Tony's mouth. "Mm, sorry."

Tim ignored the beer, got to his feet and went into the kitchen to grab Tony a plate. He came back and took the beer from Tony's hand, placing it on the desk. He picked up Tony's hand and put the plate in it. "I don't know why you're still a bachelor, DiNozzo."

Tony, who'd been taking another bite, stopped and gasped mockingly. Tim, again, sighed and rolled his eyes. After a coughing fit from Tony, he stood with one of his hands across his chest. "Probie, that hurt." He said with a false wounded tone. "What makes you think I couldn't keep a girlfriend?"

"Please, Tony, you couldn't focus on one woman if you tried." Tim said, mostly serious but joking all the same.

Tony nodded his head and walked around the back of Tim's seat and into his writing area. "Touché."

"Tony," Tim warned as he rose to his feet and followed him into the area he used for his writing.

Tony was still chewing on his mouthful of pizza as he leaned over the writing chair to look at the paper Tim had been typing when he'd shown up. McGee pushed him back and covered his typewriter, leaving the paper still in the platen.

"So what is this novel about anyway?" Tony asked.

"It's nothing. Just a crime novel." Tim said, straightening the cover.

"Well, come on. Tell me more." Tony said, looking at him expectantly.

"You're serious. You really want to know?"

"I'm interested. Go on, tell me."

McGee moistened his lips again and looked down to the papers he had piled up waiting to be shipped off to his publisher. He still hadn't told his coworkers that he'd wrote a book. Not that they'd stumble across it. The authors name was an anagram of his given name. There was no way they'd find out. He was astonished that he was actually considering telling Tony about the book but then suddenly something occurred to him.

"Are you just trying to make me feel better?"

Tony smiled as he finished the slice of pizza he'd been eating. He returned to the computer desk to grab another slice of pizza and pop open a beer. He handed it and the plate to Tim before opening another beer and grabbing another slice of pizza. This time, however, he stood over the pizza box so as to not make a mess.

"And if I am?"

McGee relented and took a long drink of the beer. He felt the cool liquid slide down his throat and looked at his coworker in front of him. Tony was looking at him with a concerned face. He suddenly could see Tony in a different light. He wasn't all jokes and head slaps.

"Then I must really be in trouble." McGee moaned, taking a bite of the pizza.

Tony slapped his hand on the younger agents shoulder. He could see how upset McGee was at the thought that he'd actually killed a man. It wasn't the fact that the man was a cop, McGee had taken a life of a human being. He knew how hard it was the first time to be told that the bullet that had taken a life had belonged to the gun in his possession. Yes, he'd peed his pants the first time he'd shot at someone but the first time he'd actually killed someone had been must worse. He'd actually gotten sick. Of course, that wouldn't make Tim feel any better so he kept that piece of trivia to himself.

"Don't worry, Tim. We're going to find out exactly what happened." Tony said, taking the seat next to the computer desk again.

"Where's his weapon, Tony?" McGee asked.

Tony could hear the pleading in Tim's voice. He was just as confused, if not more so, as everyone else. Tony didn't have an answer to the question and had been asking himself the same question all night. Tony put his plate down on the desk and leaned forward to look at the green computer screen.

"So, is this your little Elf Lord game?"

McGee wasn't sure how to take Tony's refusal to answer the question. He sighed and took another long drink of the beer. He ate another bite of his pizza and looked to Tony, waiting for the punch line of the joke he knew was coming.

"No, it's not. It's actually Tactical Death Strike. It's sort of a war game with sniper missions." Tim said, turning to face the computer screen.

"I didn't know you were into war games. I thought you just played that fairy game…"

"For the last time, DiNozzo, it's a snow elf not a fairy." McGee said.

Tony looked down to him and pushed the chair away slightly. McGee watched as Tony moved the chair in front of the huge screen and started playing with the mouse. "Potato, Pahtato, Probie."

"Tony, don't…" McGee made his way back to the computer screen and tried to take the computer mouse from Tony only to have his hand smacked.

"I thought you had a sister, Probie. Didn't you learn to share?" Tony said.

"Yeah, well Sarah knows how to play. I don't want you to use up all my lives. This game is pretty…"

Tim groaned as he saw what Tony had done on the game. Yet, Tony was still pushing buttons and moving the mouse.

"Hey, why isn't the guy moving?" Tony asked, knocking on the glass of the computer screen.

"Because he's dead, DiNozzo." Tim said dryly.

"Oh. Well, so how do I make him undead?" Tony asked, looking down at the keys.

McGee sighed and pressed another button on the keyboard and the man stood up and started moving through the trees again as Tony moved the mouse. Tony was actually not doing to bad at the game once he'd figured out the concept and realized which guys were his team mates and which were the enemy.

"You know, this is actually fun. Who would have known?" Tony said as a screen popped up saying that he'd completed the mission. "If you tell anyone I said that, I will slap you silly."

McGee smiled as Tony threatened to smack him for the second time that evening. He smiled softly and nodded his head. He continued to watch Tony play the game until Tim was finally able to throw him out of his apartment in the wee early morning hours. He hated to admit it but Tony had made him feel better and forget what had happened… for the moment.


End file.
